VietNamNet Bridge – Many travel agencies have reported their domestic and international tours for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday (Tet) are almost fully booked and bookings are up at least 10% compared to last Tet.

Tour operators said customers prefer short trips to the coastal destinations such as Phan Thiet, Nha Trang and other sites in central Vietnam. Especially, package tours to Phu Quoc Island off mainland Kien Giang Province have been sold out.

People with vacation plans for Tet do not have many choices one week prior to the holiday as it is not easy for them to book the tours departing from February 19 to 22, or the first to fourth days of the first lunar month.

Notably, more families and groups of guests have booked hotel rooms, restaurants, shuttle services to and from airports and hire tour guides rather than buying package tours this year.

As for outbound tours, the trips to Japan and South Korea have been booked by more people for their Tet holidays, while there has not been significant growth in bookings of tours to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

According to travel companies, familiar destinations have been less attractive to Vietnamese tourists while package tours to new destinations with higher prices are selling well, especially those to Japan, South Korea and Dubai.

Saigontourist Travel Service Company has wooed more guests to its tours of Dubai in addition to South Korea and Japan, the company’s marketing and communications head Doan Thi Thanh Tra said.

“These tours have been booked quickly thanks to lower prices. It now cost about VND37 million for a trip to Japan instead of VND60 million like before,” Tra said.

Travel companies have attracted more groups of guests to their Tet tours.

Tran Thi Bao Thu, marketing and communications director of Fiditour Joint Stock Company, said the company will arrange trips for many groups with each having 30-40 guests to Nha Trang, Mui Ne, Dalat, Singapore and Laos from February 15 to 19, or the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month to the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Travel firms estimated booking increases for their Tet tours at around 10%. Fiditour reported a growth rate of 20%.

Saigontourist adds sites to tours after expressway opened

* Saigontourist Travel Service Company will offer guests of their tours to central and Central Highlands regions more destinations to visit after the entire HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway was opened to traffic over the weekend.

The company said new sites would be added to the tours to Nha Trang, Dalat and Binh Thuan as it now takes guests less hours when traveling by car on the new expressway linking HCMC and the southern province of Dong Nai.

Prices of the tours will remain unchanged, according to Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing manager of Saigontourist.

Tra calculated at least 5,700 domestic customers who have bought tours to visit the regions during the Tet holiday will enjoy faster travel thanks to the expressway.

SGT